Railway signal system.



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PATENTED- JULY s1, 11906.

fw, L. SCHIBBLB. y RAILWAY SIGNAL s YsTLM.

APPLIGATION mlm) 143.24, 1905.

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: Miamisburg UNITED sTATns IPATENT oInIICn. f

WILLIAM n sCHIIIBLE, oF' MIAMIsBURoHIo; AAs'sIGNCR-iro D.. P. y CLARK AND COMPANY, or DAYTON, CHIC,- ACCPARTNERSHIP.

- RAILWAY SIGNAL SYSTEM.

- No.'s27,122.

.To all whom, it may concern: n n ,r Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. SCHIEBLE, a citizeniofthe UnitedStates, residing at and vState of- Ohio, have invented certain new and-useful-Improvements in RailwayY Si nal Systems, ofjwhich the following isa spec` cation,freferencebeing ,had thereinto. the ac- 1 companying drawings.l

,n ,Thisin'vention relates-to railway signal systemsfand more particularly to that class known as electric signal systems# being designed for 'use more particularly in connection .with electric railways.

.lV VThe inventionis in ythe nature4 of an vimrovementupon the construction set forth in etters Patent No. 786,604, grantedto me `April 4,- 19057 and-has for its objects, among other things, first, to Yreduce `the number of Wires-required between ,signal-stations, e so that asingle `wire may be employed instead of the larger-number required in the construction set forth in, my said prior patent, and, second,"to provide a more efficient contact structure; for the commutatorsand one which willl eifectually.y prevent overthrow or excessive movement yof the-commutators beyond the prescribed limit.` p v 4:'lo these'and other ends my'invention' consistsin-certain novel features, which I will now-proceed tof describe vation of so-much of the system as relates to sof.: all electricrailwvayfas agsource,of..current-` one complete'block ,or' section. Fig; 3 is a planjview4 of what is shown-'in Fi I. 2. Fig. 4

is a. transversexsectional view o .one yof the y-rotatory switches or kvcommutators,` .taken on the linewof'Figand looking in the di'- rectfionofthe arrows. Fig. l5 is a'longitudina'l sectional viewjof the same, taken on the line y y of gFig. 4.and looking inthe direction of the :arrows and 6,17, 8, and. 9 are,y diagrammatic views tions of the parts. ,f

,The particular embodiment of inven-l tionwhich Ihave chosenfor purposes of illus-4 tration is onejin which Vthe system is used in connectionwlth the trolley-Wire or feed-Wire I Specification of Letters Patent.

,- in they county of Montgomery' .and willi thenparticularly point out inthe'claims. Y Y I f In the accompanying drawings, Figure a1 is i aplan-view in thenature of a diagram, illustrating-the application of my invention to a single-,track railroad having lturnouts or pass, ing-sidin'gs at intervals. Fig. 2 is api-ront ele-` lustrating lvarious v posisupply, the samev indicatedby the ,refelenca-numeral 1. T e main track ofthe ,railway is indicatedat A in Fig.l 1, the same being provided with turnout-tracksB C, c., at suitable intervals. two of thesefturnouts constitutes a block or section and is protected by a separate and independent vsignaling s tructure one of which is showncompleteinFigs. 2 and 3 of the draw- Y ings. Each ofy these signaling 'structures comprises a signaling station at each end, (indicated in the present instance by the refer-v ence-letters D and E,) their location, as

` Patented July' 31, 1906. Applitason filed March 24,1905. 'serial No. 251,749.

The space between shown inzFig; 1, being at the junctionsof the turnoutswith the main line. Eachstation :comprises a'suitable upright or support 2,y

located at the .side of the track' an -havinv mountedon it` a commutator 3,-so place that itwill not be readily accessible'to thepublic, while it Willbe adapted to be engagedA andactuated by a suitable projectingl member carried by the car.v Each commutator'is preferably ,constructed in the manner shown in detail in Figs. 4 and,5. of the drawings,v4

having a body 4..,of insulating material subi L stantially cylindrical in forni` and mounted upon` an vaXis 5 preferably a conducting material,: on which' axis it is free to rotate. The i peripheral portion of the commutator isprovided: at intervals with contact-pieces 6,

which are' in electrical connectionwith-the vshaft oraxis 5 .by connecting-pieces .7 at the` inner' end of the,commutator..l VThe insulating-body of thecommutator iseXposed at. in-

tervalsbetween4 the contact-strips 6 and visrecessedl or hollowed out, as shownlat 8 these recesses alternating with thefstrlps 6. I

v In connection with eachcommutator I employ two contact-arms 9 and 10, pivotedl to the support 2 at 11 ,-.said arms depending on opposite sidesV of. the'commutator and being so arranged relatively thereto that when one of them is in contact with one ofthe conducting-'strips 6 the other will beQiILconi'lactl with the insulated bodyfof the commutator.`

:In orderV to insureapropercontact.of these arms with thegcommutator, ltheirl lower fends are gweighted,l and I preferfor this purpose weight 12-is employed, 'connected to both arms by links 13 5 the connection between said the 4,construction shown, in whichasingle g fecting this insulationlv insert' the ends of the duce the friction and wear.

shafts or axes 5.

links 13 whereby they are pivoted to the weight 12 into sleeves or bushings 14, of insulating material. erably has that portion thereof which comes into actual contact with the commutator made in the form of a roller 15, so as to re- ()ne of the contact-arms-as, for instance, the arm 9-is connected by a Wire 16 with the supply-wire 1, a binding-post 17 and connecting-'strip 18 being employed for convenience sake between said wire and the pivot of the contact-arm. The other arm (in this case the arm 10) is connected by a wire 19 toground, a similar binding-post 2() and connectin -strip 21 intervening between the wire an the pivot of the contact-arm. Each commutator is provided with a number of projecting fingers 22, one for each strip 6, and intervening insulated space 8, and these fingers are arranged in the path of the projection on the car, so as to be moved thereby when in contact with the same a distance equal to the space between two adjacent fingers 22.

The foregoing description applies with equal force to both stations of each signaling structure. The contact-surfaces of the commutators of the two stations are connected by a wire 23 this connection being preferably effected by connecting-the ends of the wire 23 with the rearwardly-projecting ends of the The wire 23 is the only wire connecting the stations, and the signaling-lamps 24 are arranged in series upon said wire, a sufficient number being employed to give the resistance required to effect the result hereinafter set forth.

The operation of the system is similar to thatof the system set forth in my said prior Letters Patent to the extent that if the signal-lamps are extinguished and a car enters the sectionfrom either direction thelam s will be lighted, the lamps being extinguishe when said car leaves the section, or, conversely, ifthe lamps are lighted, a car entering from either end will extinguish them when it enters the y section and light them again when it leaves the same. Thev operation of the system will be best understood byv reference to the diagrammatic views, Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive. In Fig. 6 the parts are shown in the same position in which they are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the

lamps being extin uished by reason of the fact that both of t e contact-arms 9, which form the sole connection with the supplywire 1, are in contact with insulated portions Y 8 of the two commutators and the lightingcircuit is broken. If a car enters the section from either direction, the position of one of the commutators will be changed either to that shown in Fig. 7 or that shown in Fig. 8.

' In either case the lighting-circuit is established from the supply-wire '1, through the wire 16, to that one of the contact-arms 9 which is in contact with one of the conduct- Each contact-arm pref-v ing-strips 6 of the commutator at one of the stations, and thence through the shaft 5 and lighting-wire -23 to the shaft 5 of the commutator at the other station, thence through contact-strips 6 and contact-arm 10 and wire 19 to ground. This establishes the circuit from the supply-wire, through the lamps, to the ground and the lamps will burn. When the car leaves the section, it will turn the commutator of the last station, so that the parts will assume the position shown in the diagram illustrated by Fig. 9, in which position both of the grounded contact-arms are cut out and the lighting-circuit is connected at both of its ends to the supply-wire. The lamps in said lighting-circuit are of a resistance such that the current will not pass through them, so that the lights remain unlighted or do not burn. When another car enters the section from either direction with the parts in the position indicated in Fig. 9, the turning of either commutator`will restablish the lighting-circuit from the supplywire to the ground through Whichever one of the grounded contact-arms is moved onto the contact-strip 6, thus returning the parts once more to either one of the two positions shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

It will thus be seen that the same general results are obtained by my present construction as are obtained by my previously-patented construction, each car properly setting its own signals as it enters and leaves the section. It will further be noted that my present construction requires but a single signaling-wire between the signaling-stations and is therefore simpler and less expensive.

The construction of the contact-arms and commutators is such that the weight draws each pair of contact-arms toward each other, so as to firmly press against the commutator, holding the roller of one arm firmly in contact with one of the strips 6, while the roller of the other arm is pressed firmly into one of the recesses 8. to turn when one of its fingers is struck by the projection from the car; but as soon as said projection has passed clear of said finger the roller of one of the arms enters into one of the recesses 8 and prevents any further rotation of the commutator, the inertia of which is not sufficient to lift the weight. The employment of a weight to operate the contactarm is advantageous for the reason that the action thereof is uniform and is not affected by wear, weather, or temperature.

Havin thus fully described my invention, what I c aim as new, and desire to. secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric signaling system for railroads, a support, a commutator rotatably mounted on said support, contact-arms pivotally suspended from said support on opposite sides of the commutator, and a weight suspended fromsaid arms andacting to draw The rollers permit the commutator IOO IOS

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them together toWard'the commutator, suby stantially as described.

2; In an electric signaling system for rail-v froads, a support, a commutator rotatably 5 mounted on said support and having alternate peripheral contact-strips and recesses, contact-arms pivotally suspended from said 'support on ojpposite sides of the commutator an provide with rollers, one of Which bears 1o on a contact-strip While the other engages a recess, and a Weight suspended from said contact-arms and acting to draW them forcibly together, substantially as described. f

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses. Y

WILLIAM E. SCHIEBLE.

Witnesses:

W. A. REITER, WM. I-I. ALBREcHr. 

